Sat Nav

Having wasted a lot of time lost today I'm thinking about getting a sat nav, this seems about the best for a novice like me

https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/sat-nav...ucts/rider-40/

Any comments/advice welcome

I had a Garmin 340lm, was ok but prefer the Tomtom 410 and the settings it seems to have.

Just love the twisty road option on my rider.

I tend to use Google maps on my phone, with audio into a Bluetooth earpiece. I usually set it to avoid motorways and that's mostly OK (although it still favours dual carriageways depends if you're commuting or having fun i guess). You can always ignore it and let it reroute.

If it's a particularly unfamiliar route I stick it in the map pocket of my tank bag and leave the screen on too. Also take a power bank for the phone; either me or the bike runs out of juice well before the phone does.

A major flaw with Google maps though is that you can't send a custom route you've planned on the computer to the phone.

I've recently started playing with an android app called osmand. It's the Open Street Maps app. The app is a bit clunky but tweaking a few settings helps with that. The thing that drew me towards it is the fact you can have turn by turn navigation for a route in gpx format (similar idea to KML and KMZ that other sat nav manufacturers use). This means that you can make a nice route on the Google maps website, run it through a converter and then use it in the app.

I have only used it once for a short test journey and it was fine. Once I've done a longer ride I might write a little tutorial.

Tested a slightly longer gpx route with osmand the other day.
It has a major flaw in that the app is quite dumb when following a gpx route (don't know if it's a shortcoming of the app or the gpx format).
For example rather than saying something helpful like "at the roundabout take the third exit," it will say "turn left," meaning join the roundabout, "turn right," meaning go round it, and "turn left" again, meaning exit the roundabout.
Guess I'll stick to Google maps for now.

Hi, I use an application called Tyre - free to download on your PC. It uses Google maps, and you can click & drag the route you actually want to take - just make sure that you place enough waypoints on your intended route. I have found it very easy to use, and when your route is finished, simply 'save as' and then save the route for the Sat nav that you are using. I have used it for both TomTom and my Garmin sat nav, without any problems.

If you have an Android phone there is CoPilot. It costs about £15 but the advantage over google maps is that the maps are downloaded to your SD card so not reliant on a data connection. I've used it both visually, mounted on the handle bars, and using audio only with my phone in my jacket pocket. The instructions are clear enough for the audio only

Check out Waze too for either Apple or Android devices. Free but works on the social side to satnav in the respect that if you drive past a camera van you can live report it to other users along with traffic and safety alerts (I was wanted of scaffolding posts in the road a few months back I would have probably hit without the app)

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Cheers for the suggestions, will try them out.
Been playing around with Google maps a bit more, you can programme one additional stop to try and force it to go a certain way but it's hit and miss. Also it counts it as a proper stop so you have to actually stop and tell it you want to carry on with the second half of the route so a non starter really.

I've seen the Tyre one before. My brother did a tour down the West coast of America last year and the leader had a TomTom so they planned their routes with Tyre.
Copilot one looks quite good as you can at least programme waypoints and looks pretty fully featured with lane assist, traffic etc.

I use a an old Go750 in a semi-waterproof cover ( £12 on ebay), with a lead back to the battery via a USB plug. Does the job. As backup I use NAVIGATOR on my smart prone. The app is free and you should download the maps onto a 16-32 gb memory stick. You can download all of Europe onto a chip so that you do need access to WIFI or 3G or 4G on route. It works a treat. :cool: Richard